Newspaper: Turkey not received official offer to join Customs Union

Turkey has not received an official offer to join the Eurasian Customs Union, Turkish Sabah newspaper reported on Saturday citing sources in the Foreign Ministry.

According to the newspaper, media reported that Ankara was invited to join the Customs Union.
The statement also said that a year ago negotiations were held with Turkey to join the organization, but at the moment they lost their relevance.

Earlier it was reported that the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed to accept Turkey as a member of the Customs Union.

"The Turkish President came to me with a request to join our Customs Union. Let's accept Turkey," Nazarbayev said at the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Minsk.

The Eurasian customs union is a form of trade and economic integration of the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation which ensures a single customs territory.
Customs duties and restrictions of economic nature are not used in the mutual trade of goods with the exception of special protective, antidumping and countervailing measures within this territory. The member countries of the customs union apply a unified customs tariff and other common measures to regulate trade in goods with third countries.

The Customs Union of the three countries began operating in January 2012. Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Syria, Vietnam, New Zealand and Armenia have expressed a desire on making accession to the Customs Union. The Customs Union member countries have already supported Armenia and Kyrgyzstan's intention to join the Customs Union.